soft forks

[Tim754]

Brilliant Brent! Cheers Tim

[Hornet]

Its a serios good read Brent , but it will take some time to absorb. The good thing is as time goes by , I can fall back on it , and use it . Thanks Brent . There you go again , there is also usefull information on this forum

[brent j]

Thanks for the kind words guys

[LWC82PE]

i have found these which claim to contol low/mid/high speed damping and anti dive circuit

made in Australia

Promecha provalve damping control unit for conventional forks.

http://www.promecha.com.au/featured_products.htm

[Ji Gantor]

Hi Brent J,
I am now talking rear shocks.
What is the factor that you multply by if your travel is 86mm or 3 and a half inches?

Thanks Ji

[firko]

Well explained Brent. You answered a couple of questions I was too embarrassed to ask publicly! I'm about to attack a set of 34mm YZA forks and a set of 38mm Cerianis and will use your spring theory as well as YSS PD valves.

For what it's worth, I have no qualms with Promecha or their products but prefer to support Walter and YSS because he's one of us and supports vintage racing even though the real focus of his business lies in other more lucrative markets.

[Freakshow]

Leith , Brent has done a good job of explaining the whole issue in a non biast way and the correct fix. (And he probably has to do this many more times , as probly not a month will go by before somebody else will ask the same question again. ) If I remember correctly, you started a thread about that product not so long ago , with no replies. So why throw that in again??.  Sometimes I can not be bothred anymore to reply serios to some of your postings . Are they worth replying ? Yes , but only in a humerous way  .
How would you feel when someone throws in a post about enhancing  rear light bulbes, into your detailed thread ofSuzuki footpegs?

Are you being serious walter ?  Why post that ? its a Poor effort in dragging down a perfectly good thread.

Just because leith is not refering to your lame PD valve rip offs you cut him down for adding another product or brand into the mix which is part of this thread, where your response is totally out of left feild, i thought you got rid of your YSS account so you wouldnt continue with this kind of crap, wouldnt even take too much to guess then who your bagging out in your email to Brent as well, same spots differant leopod im seeing here.

HAving said that, it was a Great post Brent, some good stuff in there and good to here its all tested info, be good to see the vid too, and sorry for the side line , but that stuff shits me

[mboddy]

Just because leith is not refering to your lame PD valve rip offs ...

Why are they lame? Aren't they as good as the Gold Valve Emulators?
How are the ProMechA valves better?
Have you tried and compared any of these products?
What are you basing you opinion on?

I have been using Gold Valve Emulators in my bikes for years and they are one of the best things you can do to a bike.
I also tried the YSS PDD valves with YSS shocks on Dave's Superlight when I partnered him in the 2008 One Hour. It was a huge improvement.
I bought YSS PDD valves which I haven't fitted yet. They look like they should work the same as the Gold Valve but are two thirds of the cost.

[Freakshow]

Freaky , I dont even take you serios enough to pic an argument . Full stop.

so join the club no one takes you seriously either.  You dont have an arguement.   ps great thread hijack Walter.

Freaky , I dont even take you serios enough to pic an argument . If I rember right the thread is called " Soft Forks " not "Soft Cocks" Full stop.

Bias is a 2 way thing.......ohh and doing your usual back post edit work means nothing, it still dont make sense and is still highly derogitory to your fellow vmxer's, you really need to pick up your game and grow up fella.   

[Freakshow]

Just because leith is not refering to your lame PD valve rip offs ...

Why are they lame? Aren't they as good as the Gold Valve Emulators?
How are the ProMechA valves better?
Have you tried and compared any of these products?
What are you basing you opinion on?

I have been using Gold Valve Emulators in my bikes for years and they are one of the best things you can do to a bike.
I bought a YSS PDD valve which I haven't fitted yet. But it looks like it should work the same as the Gold Valve but it is two thirds of the cost.

Mboddy i know nothing about PromachA valves, my point about lame was simply why it needed 2 consecutive posts on Leith being bagged out just cause he mentioned somthing else.

I have PD's in mine and walter has personally showed me his, they look like straight copies so they "look like they should work".    Fitting though might be somthing to consider, you really need to speak to Oldfart directly for his opinion as he fitted some a while back.   

and Before we get the usual legal email threats  "let me clarify i have no opinion on this, as i havent fitted that brand"

[oldfart]

As you should have noticed over the past few weeks, I have not posted .  Why because I feel that some  have axes to grind and others  egos to stroke.

To answer the question YES I purchased a set of PD valves from YSS ( model 310 ) and there was correspondence and phone conversations approx 26- 10-2007 
The rest is history.......     

Brent, Thanks for all the help and tips .....a  brilliant post

 

[brent j]

Ji Gantor,

I don't have any vids posted on utube, I'm not really sure how to yet. I'm just up to converting my tapes to disc. I do have some footage from Conondale and Proserpine but it's only of my mate Muz going fast and me going slow.

As far as rear suspension (twin shocks) goes I still work on the same %'s of sag but have not yet worked out how to determine the spring rate from the weight. I'm trying to work this out but it has to allow for shock position and angle.

Freaky, re your reference to to my reply to Walters email. It had nothing to do with anyone on this site or even VMX. I posted the comment here as I can not access my personal email from work. Won't make that mistake again.

When I first fitted the emulators to my bike I noticed an improvement in my forks. The next time I rode it I wasn't so impressed. I started to play around with the settings, some changes helped and some went backwards. I quickly realised that the manufacturers put these things to an "average" setting. They should show an improvement but they are adjustable. It takes time to try these things and for most of us time is hard to come by.
It's just like jumping in someone elses car and the seat and steering column is in the wrong place, you've got to change it to suit yourself. 

Brent

[Ji Gantor]

Hi Brent,
The factor for 6-8" of travel is 1.2 or an increase of 20%
So may be for 3-4" of travel an increase of say 30% may be correct

Weight your bike (again in lbs), add your weight to the bike and divide the total by 20.
This will give you a very good STARTING POINT for the spring rate for your fork springs in pounds/inch.
For a road bike or 10-12” travel MX multiply by 1
For 8-10” travel MX multiply by 1.1
For 6-8” travel MX multiply by 1.2

Works Performance sent me similar data when I purchased a set of their shocks last year. Your explaination is much simpler to understand.

When you work it out let me know.

Thanks Ji

[brent j]

Ji Gantor you're right, that info came from Works performance. I've mentioned that when I've posted the  info in the past.
I've found the formula works pretty well but doesn't allow for different weight bias on different bikes. The guy I dealt with rides a TT500 and uses 23lb springs. My 500 carries a lot more weight on the front wheel so needs 25's so it still pays to play a bit if you have time.

I like the idea of allowing a percentage for different travel in the rear. I'd like to try and work out a formula for selecting rear springs simillar to the one for fronts. You would then have to allow for the shock position ie forward of the axle and angled.
I figure if the shock had 4" travel and was mounted to give 8" at the axle then you'd need double the spring rate.
Something else for a rainy day

Cheers

Brent

[Ji Gantor]

Hi Brent J,
I hope you don't think I tried to water down your efforts by mentioning Works Performance, as that was not my intention.
Besides you have taken it a few leaps forward from what they have written and as I said made it simpler to understand.

I will try and work out a formula to suite small travel rear shocks and send it through for you to cast your eye over.

Thanks again for sharing your experiences.

Ji